2006 Focus: Tom Herzog

Dave Telep

10/19/2004

Tom Herzog, a 7-foot center and junior out of Flint (Mich.) Powers is a name to watch this year. Herzog says he's already heard from some of the Big Ten's heavy hitters.

Guys like Tom Herzog aren't exactly readily available. The Flint Powers juniors says he measured out at 7-feet tall this summer and that number alone will put him on speed dial in the cell phones of high-major recruiters.

"A lot of people have compared me to Chris Kaman," Herzog said. "I block a lot of shots and I kind of like post up around the paint. I like to run the floor."

Blocking shots just might be his greatest strength. He's a natural at it and the skill won't get overlooked by recruiters.

In September, a myriad of schools came in to see him. Marquette, Xavier, Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Central Michigan, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Richmond, Purdue and The Ohio State University all stopped by.

All of this attention is pretty new to Herzog. It's not exactly like he put in an entire year of big time work as a sophomore but he did finish strong. "In the beginning of the season I wasn't averaging very much. In the first 10 games I averaged 9 points a game and the rest of the season I averaged about 18 points a game. Rebounds were like 15 rebounds and 8 blocks."

Herzog is a fine student and academics are going to factor into his decision at some point. "The school that I go to is probably going to be a school with good academics but I'm not sure what I want to go into. That'll factor into it once I make the decision. It doesn't have to be the best academic school, but I want to go to a good one."